Man's Best Friend or Sanzo's Worst Nightmare?
by Grey Blade
Summary: Okay, we all know the only animals Sanzo can barely bare with is maybe a kitten and Hakuryu. But what if the group suddenly got a dog? The genre is not humor as you can see I only do humor when I'm in Evil Mode. Rated for language. No pairings
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**A/N: People this is my very first Saiyuki Fic…well…the first I've posted. I hope my writing style has improved since The Dark Side (Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender). **

**People, please be straightforward and honest in your reviews. Flames are very much welcome. Don't be polite and tell me that my story is good even if you hate it in reality. Quote-"Praises makes my (your) conscience better, but criticism makes me (you) a better writer."-Unquote. I don't know who that was from.**

**- - - - - - - - - - -**

"Die, Sanzo!" A random youkai shouted out from behind his so-called cavalry, having enough confidence that it won't be harmed waaaaaaay back in his group.

Gojyo rolled his eyes. Holy shit! If he had a penny for every time he heard that line he'd be a billionaire. He wouldn't be surprised at all if it was included in the "Book of Pointless Clichés".

"Oh boy. It looks like we have a detour, Sanzo," their driver said calmly up-front with his ever-present smile. Up 'till now, Gojyo was still wondering how he managed to do that almost all the time without his cheeks hurting. Maybe it was that shit he drank all the time. What was it called again? Oh yeah. Tea.

"T'ch." That was all Hakkai got as an answer from Mister Bald Blondie beside him.

The jeep swayed a little as the monkey across of him suddenly stood up. It didn't take a genius to see in his plate-sized eyes that he was hungry…again. You'd think he'd be more worried that they were going to be attacked by twenty demons in the middle of a very, very unstable, rocky ledge but then, what the hell.

"Aw! Come on! I'm hungry, Hakkai. Do we _have_ to fight these guys?" Said monkey whined. "I'm not really in the mood, ta'day."

"It seems we have to, Goku. This mountain pass is the only way to the next village," Hakkai replied with that smile of his again.

The random youkai in the back was obviously getting irritated. "Hey! Don't you ignore us! Especially when you're about to die!" Hah! Like hell they're going to die!

"Hey, look, Hakkai," Gojyo said to the green eyed man in front. "This demon's pretty confident. Think we should make him eat his words?"

"Well, the boy in the last village _did_ say this was the only route."

Gojyo smirked. He knew his friend well enough that that was Hakkai's way of saying, "Sure. Let's kick ass!"

"Come on! Let's make this quick!" Monkey shouted out, practically to his ears, as his nyoi-bo appeared in his hands. Gojyo was about to follow when he received a very strong kick to his chin as Goku jumped out of the vehicle.

"Oi! Watch where you're going, monkey!" He shouted as he sliced up a demon in half with his Shakujou while getting out of the jeep. When they were done with this, he'd give the monkey what was coming to him.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hakkai finished off the last of the youkai with his chi blast. The youkai gave off an agonizing scream as he burned and died.

Gojyo had always wondered how Hakkai managed to do that. A month after he saw him do that, he thought that it'd be pretty cool if he could do that, too. So, he got Hakkai to teach him and after long, grueling lectures on focusing, concentrating and shit about how to use things wisely, he quit after an hour.

He surveyed the scene for any more youkai to take care off. As far as he could see, everything was already cleaned up; pretty quickly, too. They usually took at least a half-hour to kill a youkai group this big, but this time, they took at least fifteen minutes (not that he was counting, he just kinda' noticed). And this was the only thing that attacked them the whole week. That was another good yet strange thing. Not only that, Hakkai said there'd be a string of villages after the next one, so it would take them only a day at the latest to get to each one. Maybe it was their lucky week or they won a lottery in heaven or something. Hell, the cliff didn't even break beneath their feet.

He looked to his left, to see Sanzo taking out a cigarette from its almost-empty Marlboro box. That was something not-good and strange. This was Prissy Priest's twentieth drag today. The guy usually takes until evening to take in that many, but the sun was still torturing them at its peak in the sky. Sanzo plus too much cigarettes equals Sanzo in bad mood…well, a worse mood than usual. Wonder what's gotten into him lately? They were having a good week and here's Mister Sanzo Prissy Priest ruining it all.

Ah, what the hell. Gojyo's not going to let some monk ruin his good mood.

He spotted Goku getting some peaches in a nearby tree and ran off to give him the noogie of his life.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Sanzo took a drag out of his cigarette and let the nicotine fill out his lungs for as long as he could. And then he let all out, satisfied with the way the smoke swirled in the air.

God today was shitty. So were yesterday and the day before that. It was all because of that stupid headache he was getting, and it was getting worse each damn second of his life! And all he could do was try to ignore it and dull it as much as he can with the miracle that is the cigarette.

Why? Why the hell did they have to get _that _inn and not the other one? Sure, it was probably the more decent of the two, but then it was the cause of this entire fucking headache.

About three days ago they got four rooms at an inn at about mid-afternoon. Sure it was decent: running water, water heater, electricity, comfortable beds…Sanzo thought he might have a decent stay there, seeing as they've got all the conveniences and he got a room to himself. Sure he thought all that…until dinner. The innkeeper's son just _had _to show them his, quote-"really cute, really awesome and really huge dog"-unquote.

Sanzo, for one, didn't see anything particularly cute about it. It was enormous, big-nosed, and slobbering, but, unfortunately, Goku thought otherwise. He spent every possible second he could with the boy, and more so with the boy's dog and the rest of the seconds he spent pestering Sanzo to also get a dog. And when they left, Sanzo thought it was a good thing. It was simple. No dog means no more annoying than usual Goku. Goku would forget about it soon enough.

Nope; not happening. Sure, Goku _seemed _to have forgotten all about the dog. He was eating, he was shouting, he was playing mahjong, he was being annoying again without any mention of a dog.

But then the mental messages started to come in.

Sanzo used to think that his and Goku's telepathic link was a nuisance, now he thinks it's annoying as hell! There wasn't any moment in the past three days that he wouldn't suddenly start hearing things in his head such as "I want a dog," or "Dogs are awesome", or "Let's get a dog." And for the love of God, their link was still active in his sleep. He rarely even gets dreams, let alone dreams concerning meat buns and dogs.

Goku forgot about the dog, but deep down, he still wanted one, and the only person his subconscious could talk to about it was Sanzo, which was the reason for the damn headache he was getting now.

But he wasn't going to give in to the monkey. No. There was no snowball's chance in hell he was about to do that. Goku would forget about it completely soon enough, but a dog. God, a dog, tagging along on their mission. Their journey's hell enough as it is, but to endure constant barking and whining. No, he was never, ever going to get a pet, let alone some stupid dog.

…He could endure a kitten, though… maybe for a day or two.

- - - - - - - - - -

_BUMP!_

Sanzo grit his teeth harder. If it got any harder than that he was sure his teeth would break.

That was practically the millionth time they came across a road hump. Hakkai said  
it would be like this for at least another three days. Great, just great. Goku's mental dog needs and Sanzo's headache were finally lessening and then suddenly they came across this. It would figure of course, that after a pretty satisfying two weeks with almost no youkai attacks, _weak_ youkai attacks, his lessening headache and no more dreams about dogs, _this _would happen.

He suspected it before, and now he was sure that he was the heavens' own personal joke.

"_Bingo," a certain Kanzeon Bosatsu said smugly._

_BUMP! _

There it was again.

"Ow! Hakkai, I bit my tongue!"

And of course, to add to it all, there was the idiotic ero-kappa to annoy him, along with his partner…

"Hakkai…how much closer 'till the next village? I'm starving."

…The monkey, also known as very, very annoying kid with a stomach for a brain.

The man beside Sanzo smiled uncertainly, trying to keep Goku from worrying and at the same time concentrating on the road. "We're almost there, Goku. Just wait a few more minutes. Twenty minutes at the latest."

"Well, how much longer until these damn road humps are out of the way?" Gojyo snapped.

"I told you. At least three more days. This isn't exactly easy for me, either."

"I'm sooooooooo hungry," whined Goku.

"Shut up, monkey," Gojyo drawled. "Typical that food's the only thing you can think about at a time like this. Shouldn't you be thinking more about what kind of babe you're going to have in your bed?" He said that last one with a smirk.

"Eeew. That's disgusting," Goku said, wrinkling his nose and sticking out his tongue at the same time.

And then more retorts and then shouting and then the occasional kicks and punches.

Sanzo was wrong. He wasn't the heavens' personal joke, he was their own comedy sketch. Maybe they gave him a title. Something like Sanzo the Sad Sadistic Monk.

_Meanwhile, Kanzeon Bosatsu was pondering on that. "Hmm…I think I'd prefer Sanzo the Sheep."_

_BUMP! _

There it was again.

"I told you not to pull at my hair!" Gojyo shouted from the back while trying to push away Goku.

"Well, take back what you said to me about being a monkey-"

_BANG! _

Sanzo had taken out his gun and shot randomly at the sky, giving them their first warning. "The next time, I'm going to aim right in between your eyes."

Silence… 

That was more like it.

Sanzo somehow never got used to their whining and complaining, even if it was all routine already. It was like the day wouldn't be complete without it all, not that he wanted those days. Goku makes a complaint, Gojyo retorts, Sanzo threatens, and then silence followed. He didn't know about Hakkai though; he just he keeps quiet or passes a harmless pun…either way he'd smile.

Sanzo leaned back in his chair and relaxed a bit. And for a moment, just one moment, he was satisfied with the way things were (except for the road humps). Satisfied with the way they were quiet, with the cigarette in his mouth, with the light breeze cooling off his face. But Sanzo knew the term 'too good to be true'. And this one moment was the perfect example of it. Sooner or later, Goku would complain shit to Hakkai, and then Gojyo would insult for no reason at all, and then the whole cycle starts again. Whine, insult, threaten, silence…smile.

"Hakkai…Are we there, yet?"

Ah, right on cue.

"Twenty more minutes, Goku," Hakkai answered. Sanzo just kept quiet about the fact that that's what he said ten minutes ago. He didn't want to waste his breath when he could use it for a good cigarette. Besides, he would be using his breath, along with either his gun or Harisen later on.

"But _Hakkaaaaaai_." Again with the whining. "I'm hungry!" Any time now…

"That's all you're thinking about monkey. Just shut up." There it was.

"But I'm starving!"

"Well that's what you get when you have a stomach for a brain."

"I do not!"

And then more shouting, kicking and annoying Sanzo. This was where said breath with said Harisen or said gun came in handy.

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up!?" Sanzo stood up and shouted, facing the two at the back.

For one millisecond, Gojyo and Goku continued on with their fighting, not noticing the angry monk towering over them. But they noticed the silver sheen of the gun in said monk's hands a nanosecond before that. They stopped immediately and held up their hands in defeat.

Sanzo narrowed his eyes at them, not for once giving in or falling for that "Look-I'm-innocent-Don't-kill-me" face. But then, who needs blood to clean up in such good weather?He sat back down with his arms crossed across his chest. Beside him, Hakkai was laughing and smiling, and at the same time still trying to keep on Sanzo's good side. "_yare yare desu ne…_" he murmured. "Don't get mad, Sanzo. They're Gojyo and Goku, after all."

Sanzo didn't answer and just closed his eyes and tried to block off any annoyances that might come. But there was no need to because silence followed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**A/N: I had a few beta-readers go through this, and so far they said it was okay, but I really don't think so for my first chapter. Please review and tell me anything wrong with it and I'll try to do something about it. **

**Oh yeah, and by the way, this was kinda' plot-less. It's the second chapter where the story starts. My beta-readers and editor just said it had to be that way; if you don't think so, please review to me about it. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter two. I think I did a better job of this and it's a little longer than the last one. But then the last one was only prologue anyway. Oh yeah, my editor wants to say something before we start. **

**E/N: Good morning/afternoon/evening to all who is reading this. I'm sure the author of the story has already introduced me as his/her editor. I would just like to say that even though he/she said to be straightforward with your reviews, it wouldn't hurt to give him/her a confidence boost with reviews that say nothing but good things. **

**A/N: ………...Well, let's get on with the story.**

Sanzo flicked the cigarette off the side of Jeep and heaved a huge sigh. Fuck it all. It figured; they were almost at the end of their bumpy road, and now this.

To his left was the steep drop of the ledge they were in, and beyond and below that was the vast forest. On their right was even more of the forest, leveled with them this time. He noticed their movement before Hakkai even sensed them. There were a lot of them this time. He noticed at least forty shadows running in between the trunks of the forest on their right side, and fifty more jumping in from branch to branch. At least two of them had stronger auras than the others; those were the fairly strong ones.

But there was something weird about them though. They've been moving alongside them for at least ten minutes now, and yet, they didn't seem to be showing any signs of ambushing them or attacking them. They didn't even seem to have noticed them at all. And their pattern was a little weirder than usual. They weren't moving as if they were going to make an assault. They were scattered and shifting carelessly-more careless than usual- as if they were running away from something…in fear. And some of them were falling behind. Sanzo guessed that maybe they were wounded. But by what? Aside from their group, no one could take on that many youkai.

Hakkai cast him a side-glance. "Sanzo."

"I know."

"Hey. Why aren't they doing shit, yet?" Gojyo asked, observing the moving shadows on their right.

_Bump! _

Sanzo almost bit his tongue on that one. Well, at least the road humps were getting small and lesser now.

"Why'r they acting weird, Sanzo?" Goku asked.

"How the hell am _I _supposed to know?" Sanzo spat.

"What do we do? Sanzo?" Hakkai asked without looking

Why is it that everyone was asking _him _questions? Did he look like he knew everything in the world? "T'ch. Do what you want. They don't look as if they're attacking anyway."

"Alright then."

Hakkai drove on, just as Sanzo expected. After all, their mission wasn't to rid the world of evil. As long as they weren't being bothered, it wasn't their problem.

"Yeah, but _what_ are we gonna' do? I'm bored!" Goku asked. Sanzo expected him to do that, but what he didn't expect was Goku suddenly shoving his face up-front and practically pushing Hakkai of the jeep.

Hakkai's hands left the wheel. For a moment only, but it was enough to let the vehicle swerve dangerously to the left. Fuck it all! He knew that Hakuryu wouldn't have enough time to transform so they had no choice but to fall splat on the ground.

Everything around them was nothing but a blur of green, brown and blue. The tires beneath the car screeched loudly and left scratches and tire tracks on the dirt. Sanzo gripped the side so hard that his knuckles went white. Goku nearly fell off to the side of the cliff if he hadn't grabbed the head rest of Sanzo's seat and the dashboard and Gojyo was practically flying from his seat.

Hakkai managed to get his bearings on time and grabbed hold of the wheel. The black leather slid underneath his hands at such a rate, the friction burned his hands momentarily. He managed to get a good hold on it an inch before the fell down the side of the cliff. He steered right, but he turned the wheel too much.

When a while ago, they were about to fall off and get splattered, this time they were about to crash full-force into a huge tree trunk. Fuck. It. All!

His eyes darted a bit to the left of the trees on instinct. And he saw it. A wide blur of color set between the green of the trees: A forest path. But they won't be able to make it there on time.

_**BUMP! **_

They hit something. Sanzo was so sure they had crashed right into the trees. But it didn't seem that way. Shouldn't it have been '_crash_' instead of _'bump_'? A road hump? No way. It was too big. And he heard something, too as they hit it. He heard…a yelp? But not even he could be sure through all the noise they were having already.

The hit they made was enough. It gave Hakkai a split-second to steer the wheel and find his way in the middle of the path Sanzo spotted a while ago. As they found themselves in the forest, Sanzo thought he saw a moving streak of white among the green and brown. He was sure this time, and he was pretty sure that whatever it was, it was the thing they hit a while ago. He just wasn't sure what it was.

They were still swerving a bit when they found themselves in the path, but Hakkai managed to drift(1) right into the middle of a fairly large dirt-clearing

Sanzo almost hit the dashboard as Hakkai stepped on the breaks and stopped Jeep so suddenly.

They were all silent for a moment without any sounds but their gasping and Gojyo and Goku's quaking.

Sanzo's hair was a mess and was clinging all over his face and his robes were wrinkled and almost tattered. And he was sweating in places he didn't even know he could sweat in! Thank Buddha the Maten Sutra didn't fly off.

"Man, that was _scary_!" Goku managed to gasp out. Big mistake.

He didn't even see the white streak (A different one) before he was hit mercilessly on the head numerous times.

"What. The. Hell. Did. You. Think. You. Were. Doing (?)!" Sanzo screamed, emphasizing each word with a good hit on the monkey's head. "We could've died shit-for-brains!"** (A/N…We all know that's impossible, right?) **

"Ouch! Sanzo, that hurts."

Gojyo slugged him in the shoulder and said exactly what was on Sanzo's mind. "Well, good, monkey. Coz' that's the point!" And then gave him another punch.

Hakkai didn't join in the hitting but cast Goku a stern glance instead. "Goku, you really shouldn't have done that. Sanzo's right; we really could have died." **(A/N: Again…Impossible)**

But the sermons and the beating was cut short as a group of youkai emerged from the trees. Sanzo was right. There _was_ a lot of them. More than a hundred of them…at least. Half on the ground and the other half dropped from the branches.

At first, he thought that he had been wrong and they were being ambushed after all, but at second glance he saw that it was otherwise.

For one thing, they also seemed to be surprised to see them. And Sanzo could see that some of them were wounded badly (Those seemed to be the ones that Sanzo had seen were falling behind) while the rest of them had masses of bruises and scratches on their bodies, and strangely enough, they seemed to be caused by claws and/or fangs of a different kind. The injuries all seemed recent and the wounds and deeper scratches were still bleeding freely.

"S-S-Sanzo-ikkou!" One of them stammered out in surprise.

"Oh, so you finally noticed us," Gojyo drawled while lighting one of his Hi-Lites.

They all looked at each other, asking their companions with their eyes. They were indecisive whether they should attack or flee.

Sanzo narrowed his eyes. One of the stronger youkai auras was there again and was becoming active. With a trained eye, he scanned the scene searching for any other movement within the trees and traced the aura back to the demon owning it. But he couldn't find the source anywhere. These demons were good and were able to disguise themselves.

The aura stopped and the weaker youkai nodded at each other as if they had regrouped and made a battle plan of some kind. And then looked at them with new vigor, even though their eyes showed what pansies they were, plus they were still shaking like crazy.

"Attack!" One of them screamed.

They hesitated, but soon they were all running towards the four with their claws extracted and their mouths open wide revealing fangs and teeth that have obviously not been cleaned for quite a while.

"T'ch. Annoying," Sanzo muttered as they all got out of Jeep. He pulled out his gun and shot three demons one after the other.

A bright light flashed behind them as Hakkai's dragon returned, and then flew off to safety like he always does.

Then they all came charging at them, very sure that they could be defeated just because they were outnumbered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gojyo sliced ten demons with his Shakujou consecutively. One decided to attack him from behind while he was busy, but Gojyo knew he was there before he even sliced his companions apart. But a blast of light came from the side and burned the youkai before Gojyo could even lift his weapon.

"Asshole. I was about to kick the guy's ass!" Gojyo snapped at Hakkai jokingly.

Sanzo ignored them and shot at another demon at the neck. Blood spurted out and the youkai's head lolled off. Two more tried to attack him from the side but Sanzo was already two steps ahead of him.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Goku bonking and slicing off youkai as making it look like it didn't take any effort at all, passing off occasional random comments or battle cries like "Yahoo!" or "Take that! And that!"

Through the whole course of their battle, Sanzo looked for the two stronger auras he sensed a while ago, but couldn't find any. The owners of the auras had found out Sanzo and Hakkai were looking for them and had somehow covered any trace of their essences and had successfully camouflaged themselves among the leaves. Sanzo found no movement or any color that should stand out from the trees. And from the looks of it, neither did Hakkai.

A demon came from behind him. "Die!"

Sanzo was about to shoot it, but he noticed a deep gash in its side and two huge scratches on its forehead. This one was weak; there was no use wasting a bullet on him so Sanzo did the only thing that came to his mind and elbowed the demon in its stomach. The youkai staggered back and was about to fall on its ass but before it could, Sanzo grabbed its shoulder and gave it a well-deserved punch to its face. That was enough to open its forehead scratches wider and kill it.

Sanzo pulled out his gun and killed three more youkai about to attack him. Another three jumped from the branches on top of Sanzo but they were dead before they fell on the ground.

No more came to attack him. He looked around to see Goku and Hakkai were already clearing off the clearing. There were still a few more youkai to be taken care of. But this wasn't the case after a few more minutes.

Sanzo observed their surroundings again. Seeing as there were no more youkai to kill them, the stronger ones should already be coming out now. That's always what happens.

The aura became active again. It was stronger this time. Sanzo couldn't help but smirk a little. The youkai giving off this aura was getting irritated.

"They're here," Hakkai said, also scanning the area with his one, good eye.

"I know," Sanzo said passively.

"Shit," Gojyo snapped with the cigarette still in his mouth, already half-burned. "At this rate, we won't be able to get to a town before the day ends."

"Aw, but I'm hungry." There was no guessing as to who said that.

No more was said as something large jumped out from the canopy of the trees. It was large, brown demon with an enormous overbite; so enormous, large, pointed teeth were visible, jutting out of its lower jaw. It had a breast plate on, with shoulder spikes. This was the one owning the stronger aura. The other one wasn't anywhere to be seen. Sanzo narrowed his eyes. For once he thought they were up against some strong, smart youkai with strong youkai magic, but this was just another brute giving off a large aura because of its strength and size. But it didn't make much sense to let the stronger one fight first than the weaker one. What the hell was happening?

The youkai roared and charged. It's very large claws were extracted and its mouth was wide open revealing fangs as big as daggers. Sanzo wrinkled his nose. Even from a distance, he could smell the rotten meat and blood the youkai had been eating.

It lunged at them. Sanzo and co. managed to jump out of the way in time. Sanzo's eyebrows went sky high. For something so large and bulky it was fast. It was at least half-a-mile away a second ago. It was almost as fast as Seiten Taisei.

They all landed on the ground, now far away from each other, the youkai in between all of them. Sanzo got a closer look at it now. It also had a few scratches on its body, and a small bruise flowing with blood on its thigh. It was deciding who to target first, obviously, by the way it was looking at one after the other.

They didn't wait for it to make its choice. Sanzo pulled out his gun and fired. Goku already with his nyoi-bou in hand, attacked first, followed by two of Sanzo's bullets. But he was surprised, as the youkai just grabbed Goku's staff like a stick and flung it away. With Goku still holding the staff, he was thrown along with it…right into the direction of the bullets.

For a split-second, Sanzo's heart raced, as he thought in that split-second that Goku was about to get hit. But Goku was faster; he twisted his body and landed on the ground before he could get hit, giving the bullets freedom to hit the youkai in the arm. It howled as it was hit exactly where Sanzo expected it to. But again, he was surprised as the bullets melted away in the youkai's flesh, which was healing itself without the youkai even doing shit. What the hell?

Then Sanzo felt it. Another aura, at least weaker compared to the youkai before them now, but it was active as the youkai's flesh was healing. The owner of _this _aura was healing the other youkai with youkai magic. It was nothing more than a coward that can only watch from the background.

The aura disappeared as the two wounds were turned into a scratch and the youkai charged again, this time at Hakkai. Hakkai blasted it off with his Chi, but the youkai just swiped it off like it was just a plastic bag. The blast disintegrated into air, leaving Hakkai in the open. But before the youkai could attack, Gojyo came out from behind with his Shakujou and sliced its shoulder, giving it a deep gash.

It gave another howl and lunged at Gojyo, but with its shoulder wounded, it came a bit weakly, giving Gojyo the advantage. He jumped out of the way as the youkai lunged at him and attacked it at the side with the wound.

The aura acted up again. Sanzo scanned the area trying to trace it to its source. He looked up in the branches, sure that the aura was coming from somewhere among them. But he couldn't do much as he heard the youkai cry out again. He looked towards them and saw it grab Gojyo- who dropped his Shakujou on the ground- and lift him off the ground, wrapping his torso with enormous hand; the wound on its shoulder nothing more than a scratch. It threw the red head in Sanzo's direction at such speed, the monk didn't have much time to dodge the taller man's body.

Gojyo crashed right into Sanzo, sending them both flying towards the tree. Sanzo felt the bark scratch his skin through the black leather and the white silk. Gojyo was on top of him, practically suffocating him with his weight. He turned around with a forced yet smug smirk. "Thanks for breaking my fall, man."

Sanzo growled at that remark and pushed him off before he could say anything else. Goku and Hakkai were already hitting the youkai with their nyoi-bou and chi blasts. But it was useless; each time they inflicted an injury, the aura would act up again and then the youkai's wounds heal on its own.

Sanzo stood up and aimed for the youkai's pressure point on its neck. If he hit it in the precise spot, its head would loll off with only its skin attaching it to its body. He aimed and then shot out a bullet.

He hit it. He was sure about that. But the aura started again, and healed the injury quickly, letting the demon's head stay intact.

Gojyo dived for his Shakujou which was only a foot away from the youkai, and attacked; this time aiming for small bruise on its thigh. He flew off again as the youkai kicked him in the torso.

Sanzo reloaded and shot again. It was no use. The bullets melted inside the youkai's flesh again and its flesh was instantly healed…AGAIN.

There was no helping it. He kept his gun and clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. He'd have to use his Maten Sutra to kill it.

The other three realized what Sanzo was doing and diverted the youkai's attention to give the monk more time with his chanting.

"_Kanjizai Bosatsu Gyou-jin Han-nya ha…_"He started. "_…Shoken go on kai ku do Issai…_"

But he couldn't finish as the youkai sensed the power of the sutra. It swiped the other three away with a swing of its hand and ran towards Sanzo.

Sanzo concentrated, trying to quicken his chant as much as possible. "…_soku setsu shu watsu…Gya tei Gya tei ha ra gya tei ha ra so Gya tei…_"

Too late. The youkai was already in front of him before he could finish his chant. He opened his eyes in alarm. His concentration broke as he smelled the youkai's foul breath. He prepared to jump out of the way, but as he glanced from side-to-side, he saw no exit away from the youkai. It's large bulk was blocking his way forward, it's arms blocking the sides and the huge tree blocked the way back.

The only option was to shoot at it with his gun again. But the youkai was too fast; it lunged at him, both fangs and claws, before he could even pull out his gun. And for one hideous moment Sanzo thought he was going to die.

He thought he saw a streak of white rush forward towards the youkai. Sanzo thought it was his imagination, until he noticed that the youkai wasn't in front of him anymore. He looked to his side, and saw it on its back, its forearm raised in defense. He stepped forward to see what it was it was defending against exactly, and got the surprise of his life.

A dog was on top of it; its long snout wrinkled and its mouth wide open. It was trying to get to the youkai's face, but the youkai's forearm prevented it from doing so, so it did the only thing it could: it was biting the youkai's arm out of the way, snarling and scratching while doing so.

Sanzo got a good look at it. It had an injury on the side of its head that looked a lot like an injury caused by a car bumper. He was sure that that was what they hit a while ago. But it had too many wounds for a simple vehicle accident. It had a large gash on its side, still bleeding heavily, tainting its white fur with red; it had another bruise on the middle of its forehead, the blood from it flowed down to its snout and then it branched down on either side. It had two claw marks on its back legs. Its teeth were a different thing. They were bloodied, but they weren't wounded, this was the same with its claws and tail.

Sanzo's thoughts trailed back to the injuries the other youkai had. Now that he thought about it, the dog's fangs and claws were just about the right size for causing those. As he looked more closely, he saw that it was thin. Very thin. On the side without the gash, he could see its ribs very clearly, through the thick fur.

And then everything started to piece up. To explain the large numbers and the fact that they were in the same area as them, the youkai actually planned to ambush them, until a wild, hungry dog found them and decided to make them its next meal. Even when it was outnumbered, it proved to strong for them, and even for the large youkai so they ran off, but was still being chased by the it, explaining their weird patterns a while ago. Shit. If that was how wild dogs acted when they're hungry as hell, then he didn't even want to think what Goku would do.

The youkai found an opportunity when the snow-white dog let go of its arm for a moment, and pushed it away into the air. The dog landed lightly on its feet, its fangs more bloodied than ever. The fur on its back bristled and its tail was raised. It snarled back at the youkai viciously.

Sanzo knew the healing would start again even before the aura became active. As he thought, the aura acted up and the wound the dog inflicted on its arm became a scratch within a second. Sanzo wasted no time in trying to find the source. While the dog was distracting the youkai and giving it injuries, that gave Sanzo an opportunity to try and look for it. As he was looking, he saw that the others were thinking the same thing. Hakkai was wary and was listening and looking at the same time. Gojyo was running around looking through the branches, bushes, etc. While Goku…well Goku was just hitting everything he thought he felt the aura strongest.

Sanzo looked through the bushes where he thought a youkai would hide, but he heard the rustle of leaves a little way off. He pulled out his gun and shot at the sound. The rustling stopped; he was sure he hit it. He had hit it precisely as his ears told him. But when he looked there, there was nothing. Not even a trace of blood.

Well now he got it. The youkai behind it was disguising the aura but at the same time branching it off, confusing them at where it source should be. Sanzo already knew that healing, disguising essences, and hiding were the only thing it could do. If it had any physical strength, it would've made itself known and attacked them already; the same also for magic suitable for the combat. It was nothing more than a prissy coward.

He looked behind him, at the battle taking place. Both dog and youkai were equally fast, the youkai stronger but the dog more vicious. It had wounds and gashes all over its body now; the white fur could barely be seen through all the blood. It was getting weaker and the youkai still as strong as when it fought them, but it still wouldn't give up. This wasn't purely a matter of food anymore. It was leaning on its pride. It would rather have died than run away.

The dog jumped, aiming its jaws for the youkai's neck, but it was lashed away and was sent flying through the air. It yelped loudly as it crashed right into the tree. But it was on its feet again, growling wildly, and then attacked again. This time it bit the youkai's shin. The demon tried to shake it off, but it just made the dog's teeth sink in deeper. It tried punching it away, but its jaw wouldn't even budge. The youkai intertwined its large fingers together, forming one fist with both hands, and dropped it on the wounded back of the animal. Sanzo could distinctly hear bones being broken and crushed as the dog finally let go.

The youkai backed away and readied for another attack, as the aura appeared again and the damage was healed. The dog stood up, but it didn't jump or charge at it. It just stood there watching it warily with its ice blue eyes. Its fur was bristled slightly and its tail was raised up in alarm. It raised its nose and sniffed the air. It went left, away from the large youkai. It was like this for a while. And then it snarled and darted off into the trees. The youkai ran after it, but Sanzo shot it in the head. It healed, but slowly this time. And the skin still hasn't repaired itself as the aura stopped. Goku attacked with his nyoi-bou and hit the monster on the head.

They heard a scream from far away, followed by snarling and growling. Wait. The dog had found it? A dog found it and _they_ didn't? Sanzo wasn't impressed anymore. He was pissed. Totally friggin' pissed.

Another youkai shot out of the trees, his leg already half-ripped off. He had a pair of binoculars around his neck. Just as Sanzo thought. It thought it could hide far away and monitor what was happening here. It was just another coward.

The dog emerged out of the shadows, its snout wrinkled, snarling at the smaller youkai as if telling it him was all his fault. He looked at the bigger youkai for help but it was still being hit mercilessly by Goku.

The dog charged. The youkai threw his forearm in front of him in defense but the dog just ripped it off and threw it away. He howled but it was cut short as the animal sank its teeth into his neck.

It darted off again, towards the larger youkai. It snarled at Goku, telling him to back away. The boy didn't need telling twice. As he went off, the dog jumped at the youkai. It was too weak already from Goku's hits without its healer to tend to the injuries caused by the golden-eyed boy. The dog bit its arm and got a satisfying scream. When it was sure it had drawn enough blood it aimed for the youkai's neck. The monster was dead before it even hit the ground.

The dog backed away as the youkai's very large body fell on the ground with a large thump to accompany it. It was still tense. Its fur was still bristled and it tail was still raised. Sanzo and co. just watched it, waiting to see what it would do. If it decided to attack them, it would get what was coming to it, but if it decided to run away or eat the youkai flesh, then they'd just get on with their journey and leave it alone. At least, that was what Sanzo was planning, but Goku had suddenly remembered the St. Bernard dog the boy at the inn had, and the mental messages came back full-blast. His head started to hurt again from too much "wants of dog".

And then the animal in front of them relaxed and raised its head and lowered its tail, it's large wolf-like ears, which were laid back a while ago, were lifted.

And then, of all the things that Sanzo expected to happen, it fainted and fell on its side.

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**A/N: Whew…Finally, I'm done. I don't think I'll be updating chapter very as quickly as I'm supposed to. I have a very busy schedule now that it's summer, what with baby-sitting, dog-walking, piano lessons, church, family outings, friend outings, etc. This took a while also because I was researching on wild dogs and will blame me. **

**Oh yeah, in the last few parts, my editor wasn't available, so I had to rely on Spell Check and skimming them a little. My beta-readers only check out the plot, not the grammar and spelling, so if you see a spelling or grammar mistake, please review and tell me. Thank you for reading and I hope I will be updating soon. **


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